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Monday, July 22, 2013

A New Twist: Fig Tree Propagation Update

Since beginning this new fig tree propagating experiment last Saturday, I'm surprised at how much has happened to my little fig cuttings in water. I actually am attempting to root 5 fig cuttings instead of the original 3, as I realized they were really quite long and should be cut in half. So I currently have 2 cuttings sitting in a jar of water on our left living room windowsill, 2 sitting in water on our right living room windowsill, and one (it was much shorter than the rest) sitting in water by our bedroom "window" (it's really a sliding door). Here's what's going on so far:

The little white dots that you can see on this cutting are the beginning of roots...

Not only does the fig cutting on the right windowsill have the beginning of roots, but it is developing actual roots! And in only 1 week!

More little roots budding on this cutting from our bedroom...

...and even the start of leaves, as can be evidenced by the fact that the uppermost bud is starting to open!

Here's how things went down in week 1:

13/7/2013: Prepped cuttings and put them in jars of water. Placed on the three aforementioned window areas.

17/7/13: First signs of white dots on all cuttings of where roots would form.

19/7/2013: Actual roots forming on right living room windowsill cuttings.

Observations:

1. Next time I try this I won't fill the jars up quite so high. The cuttings are all submerged about 2/3 of the way in water, and roots seem to be forming most abundantly near the top of the water line. This means that when I plant them (if they are successful), I will have to plant them very deep in a pot, leaving only a few inches of cutting above soil.

2. It's been incredibly hot here in France, and we have no air conditioners. Our bedroom has been consistently 27 - 29 C/about 80 - 84 F for more than 2 weeks now, with pretty much zero air flow. Our living room/kitchen floor has not been much better. (We live in a 150+ year old French converted farmhouse, made of cement and stones. ZERO air flow.) The upstairs cutting sits right by the sliding door (no actual windows in our bedroom) and seems to love the greenhouse effect it has on it. Maybe the heat is helping the cuttings to root faster?

Look for the Week 2 installment of this experiment right here on the blog next Monday!

Have any of you decided to try this fig propagating experiment as well? I'd love to here how it's going on your end!